Fast Track to Nowhere
by deleriumofyou
Summary: An assassin is hired to find and kill a notorious thief, what occurs is less of an assassination and more of a game of cat and mouse, Thane/Kasumi, pre ME AU
1. The thief

So I suppose an explanation is in order. This story takes place about two years before the Eden Prime incident, as in before Shepard-Commander even hears about Saren. This story is working on the assumption that Thane and Kasumi could have crossed paths before ME2, although not in an ideal situation. Any input or critique would be awesome, because I'm still building this story and it's essentially still in the womb. You may notice some pivotal characters missing such as Keiji, but don't worry, he gets an excuse note later. Annyyywaayyyy read and hopefully enjoy.

* * *

You can find anything in Omega if you look down the right alleys.

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.

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Kasumi looked on in dismay at her omnitool. It had run a tracker of her hidden spots around the galaxy and showed her the ruin her latest tiny safe house had been reduced to. Her former employer Caza must have gotten wind of it – her carefully handpicked paintings were torn or defaced, the crystals to the side were shattered and the terminal in the far corner was still open and connected to her files which were limited to bookmarks of art pieces.

Things had escalated so fast Kasumi was hardly able to keep up with the turn of events.

She should have handed over the data when she had the chance and ignored the stab of guilt that would have ensued. She would have, if she didn't fear what the consequences would be if anyone anywhere got their hands on that.

And there would have been consequences, Kasumi's dabbled enough in the underworld to have foreseen _that_ disaster light years away.

It was just that now she would be the only possible casualty of this misstep. It may have been better to simply erase all the data, the notes, the plans, the theories but her fingers had hovered over the underground home console before downloading it and destroying the entire terminal. It was better to have it and not need it than not having it at all; Kasumi had no idea at the time why it would be better but she'd always operated on always having an out to anything.

Now, it was always with her – but she'd left minute insignificant bits of the data stored onto terminals, or on old OSDs or encrypted on art files just to throw Caza off track. It was at this point than instead of focusing all of his hateful wrath at Kasumi, he'd directed some of his frustration in tearing her safe houses apart, and word on the street, terrorizing her contacts had also become a better part of his day.

Bastard.

She was now left with few options – one of those options included trying to hole up somewhere near Citadel space (who would look for her in the most obvious place) but that thought was thrown out the window. Jondum Bau would be hot on her trail, as always and likely he would be alerted to her new activities due to Caza's deal.

Damn it.

As if dealing with Caza wasn't bad enough, she didn't want to have to fox-trail away from Bau. Bau was a salarian, true, but Kasumi had long since learned to never underestimate him. He was too sneaky by a half, and that logical brain of his was a challenge to be one step ahead of. Kasumi granted him her utmost respect although it was coupled with an at times hair-tearing frustration. Whenever Bau caught wind of her, he was quick to chase and had cut her off at the pass before.

Now more than ever, she needed to stay out of the Spectre's eyes and his ears if she wanted to come out of this alive at all.

Word on the street was, since Kasumi's old volus contact had informed her, that while Caza had mercs tearing up her hidden caches, he'd hired an assassin special for her. It wasn't a bother to Kasumi; she'd outrun an entire guild of assassins before, even though she always was wary whenever they came for her.

She'd only broken out in a cold sweat when Doran informed her that Caza had hired Thane Krios.

Which was why she had scuttled her way to Omega to search out one of the few people who could get her protection, or at least keep her out of sight for the time being.

Kasumi slipped into Afterlife without her cloaking device on. She'd made Aria angry in the past when she'd waltzed in invisibly and had been subsequently threatened that if she ever did it again, the asari would personally twist her hips into a hundred-eighty degree new angle to try out. Kasumi had respectfully since always entered visibly.

Afterlife was more or less the same. Kasumi noted there were a couple different dancers, but the hot red lighting, the orange strobes, the heavy press of people within the club were all unchanged. The bartenders were still all batarian or turian, that one asari was drunkenly asking if anyone had seen her kid, and in the far corner surrounded by women (human and asari) was the oldest krogan Kasumi had ever met.

She'd need to tread lightly. This was territory that could either help her or be her end.

Kasumi saw a familiar turian bartender who nodded to her. She edged closer quickly, "Jast-san is Aria-sama available?" she needed an evaluation of her status with Aria. She hadn't encountered any problems on Omega yet, but that didn't necessarily mean she was safe. Kasumi was a pest and a source of income for Omega; she brought in more than she took from other businesses on Omega, which trickled into Aria's banks although to be fair, she also put in a lot toward tribute for Omega's queen.

Still.

Kasumi wasn't convinced Aria wouldn't help her as much as she wasn't convinced Aria wouldn't bundle her up for Caza.

Jast's plain-plated periwinkle colored face was stolid when she asked the question. She wondered if Aria was in a mood. She liked Jast overall, and he'd only questioned the odd add-ons to names once. Truthfully, being fully integrated into the galaxy as she was, Kasumi was still a romantic and kept to her roots in the smallest ways she could.

"Aria's not happy Kasumi. She's pretty steamed – sounds like you're being hunted by some pretty big game." Jast cleaned a glass with a thick rag, looking at her beneath heavy eye-ridges.

Kasumi's hood prevented anyone from seeing her reaction as long as her voice was steady and her mouth remained unmoved. Her eyes went wide under her hood though. "Why would that concern Aria-sama?"

Jast leaned over the bar, "Kid you brought some mean shit down with you when you pissed off whoever hired you. You know the one who contacted you? He's a part of the ones on Aria's shit-list."

Kasumi blinked, "Who?"

Jast hissed under his breath, "Damn Kasumi, Caza works for Cerberus."

Kasumi backpedaled immediately and found she was more insulted and angry than afraid of Aria's wrath. "Jast-san, you know I always do background checks on who hires me, Caza isn't with Cerberus, he isn't even in it for a private interest, for the love of God he works as an executive at Binary Helix. He contacted me through a channel open only to the Helix corporation within Noveria after Parasini did a clean sweep with Anoleis-san. After that particular shake-down, not a lot of people were willing to do _dirty biz_ with _anyone_ associated on Noveria."

Jast leaned forward and his mandible flared. "Kasumi I have no idea what went wrong, but even if Caza is with B n' H, his trail still goes sideways to Cerberus – one of Aria's outside contacts got footage and audio of him talking to one of the higher-ups 'bout you. Someone called the Instigator. Aria's had to deal with that idiot before." He looked sympathetic now.

Kasumi leaned back and sucked on the inside of her lip. A shot glass touched down in front of her with a hefty clink and a nearly clear, yellow liquid went into it. It steamed. Kasumi inhaled and identified it as the asari-spun sake. She leaned over it, the sweet hot smell of it almost cathartic and she felt her facial muscles loosen slightly. It was based off the popular Japanese Juyondai sake and with the asari palette leaning towards sweet and soft; it was no wonder the asari had adopted a similar brew to it.

Human delicacies were hard to find outside of the Sol system, but the asari were fond of human inspired cuisine. This was one of the few Kasumi genuinely appreciated.

She took a small swallow of it and looked up at Jast's face. He seemed concerned, and agitated if his mandible flare was any indication.

"I always double check who hires me. _Always_." Despite herself, Kasumi found the question begging how had she not known it was Cerberus. No matter what credits they threw her way, Cerberus was on the wrong side of one too many things even for a thief to want to get tangled up in. Aside from their obvious pro-human stance on anything, they were dangerous to everyone and had made it clear in the past that although they valued subtlety, they had no problem of dispatching anyone that was even thought of as a threat.

Jast crossed his long arms and gave her a narrow look. "You always do your own double-checking?"

Kasumi looked down into her shot as if it could give her more comfort. "Not always, so little time, so many things to steal." Her exuberant voice sounded hollow and a twisted sensation took residence in her chest. Betrayal. One of her checkpoints had allowed the information to slip from her.

"Any idea who? I don't mind personally cleaning them out," Jast leaned down and his talons spread over the counter.

Kasumi patted one large finger. "I don't know. I used too many for the B 'n H job in order to correlate the info. After Anoleis-san was incarcerated Noveria got too iffy. Could be all of them. Could be one of them. Could be an inside job. At this point I don't think it will matter, all of my contacts and checkpoints went silent when I found out from Doran who Caza hired to feed me to the fishes."

The turian was nodding, "He hired a lot of Blue Suns and Blood Pack for your caches, we see them crawling over here asking for any information about the Thief's hiding spots." Jast's voice rumbled on offense. He disliked new-blooded mercenaries. No class, he said.

Kasumi kept the fact that Jast was the only turian with any class that she knew of to herself.

"He also hired an assassin. Apparently, I've emasculated him on some unspeakable level." Kasumi kept her voice as light as possible and remained bent over the steaming cup of asari-sake.

"You've dealt with assassins before, never made you come running to Aria for help." The talon under her fingers tapped the counter.

"He hired Thane Krios to hunt me down. As if that isn't like bringing a dreadnought ship to a bout of friendly fisticuffs." Kasumi curled her hand around the glass and swallowed more.

Jast hissed.

"That was more or less my reaction, except less hissing and more sweating."

"Hey, sneaky human," a voice barked. Kasumi raised her head above her shot glass. A tall turian with armor and an assault rifle stood to her left. She unfortunately commanded all his attention. "Aria knows you're here so stop dicking around with the bartender and go see her."

Jast snarled and the other turian stood up straighter, his white markings plain on his gun steel grey skin. Kasumi patted Jast on his talon. "Guess it's show time, I just hope it isn't curtains yet." She swallowed back the rest of the alcohol in one go, sliding the glass over to Jast. "If Aria doesn't use a biotic slam to make me into soylent green for vorcha, I'll come back later."

Jast shook his head and Kasumi drew some comfort that he kept his eye on her while the turian guard herded her to Aria's upraised platform.

Kasumi compared the feeling of dread to a criminal seeing the executioner's block up close. The climb seemed to short and too long until she was atop the platform with an elegant sofa, guards stationed around the asari set in the middle. Her dark eyes were narrow as they settled on Kasumi.

Aria made for a startling judge and executioner. There was no meaning of 'jury' on Omega.

"Sit down before I get it in my head that shooting you would be a better option." Aria jerked her head roughly to the couch aside of her. Kasumi moved quickly around the glaring guards. She sat without a sound and twined her fingers together. "Now. I've heard some startlingly _true_ rumors that a thief was working with Cerberus and then decided that kicking them in the quad was a good idea. My first thought, which is still a very prominent one by the way, was to wrap her up like a present and give her to the operative Cerberus slime-disk Caza. Jast, who has always had a clear head on his shoulders and always been a loyal one to Omega, convinced me to give the thief a hearing."

Aria leaned over; eyes still narrow, but a blue light was beginning to circle around her forearms. Kasumi leaned back slightly, eyes wide under her hood. "This is the hearing. I ask a question, you answer it. You lie to me, keep anything from me and I will make your insides your outsides. Fuck my guards. _I will deal with you personally_."

Under her gloves, Kasumi felt her fingers begin to sweat reflexively.

"Question one: did you know that Caza was Cerberus."

"No, he contacted me through Binary Helix on Noveria after Parasini's arrest. He passed my checkpoints and he used himself as a contact." Kasumi forced herself to relax. Aria wouldn't kill her as long as she told the truth. Hopefully.

"Question two: what did he send you to go find for him." Aria remained in close proximity.

Kasumi took a breath. "It wasn't even really a heist. It was more of treasure hunting. I had to go down into these catacombs in Binthu."

"Get to the point. I really don't give a vorcha's ass about the details."

"It was data uploaded to a really old super computer, maybe Prothean. They found some small pyramids there with small caches of data. The catacombs were under one of the pyramids that had collapsed."

Aria began to lean back, studying her as one would study a bug they hadn't decided whether to crush yet. "What was the data?"

"I…couldn't understand most of it, honestly," Kasumi said sheepishly. "It was some kind of genetic tailoring, like modification but taken way, way out of bounds. Illegal doesn't even cover it."

Aria looked interested and her biotic glow faded. "Why hide it? Probably worth a lot."

Kasumi pursed her lips. "Cerberus isn't exactly the ideal poster child of a humanitarian group. They even terrify us humans. These modifications were essentially a bio weapon. I don't want Cerberus getting their mitts on them."

"So you destroyed it."

Kasumi coughed awkwardly. "Ah, no. I thought it was better to have it and not use it than not have it at all." She didn't need to look at the asari to know that she was glaring at her. "I mean, this could have a fantastic outcome for the Alliance military…unless the galaxy starts thinking that the human race is mobilizing. Which would be bad, but I figure that a contingency plan couldn't hurt. Just in case."

Aria seemed to think on it for a moment, "What about other races, you wouldn't let them benefit from it?"

Kasumi blinked. "Well, I'm not a scientist, but I saw the DNA structure the data had pulled up. It had been designed for twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. I know enough of standard galactic biology that humans have a unique DNA structure from everyone else."

"Don't get smart with me; your ass is still hanging out in fire." Aria looked away for a moment, clicking her tongue. "Where is it?"

"Safe," Kasumi said firmly.

"Good. Keep it there. Don't tell me where it is, I don't want to be part of the shit storm you're stirring up." Aria looked at Kasumi and the thief felt like she was on the end of an eagle's stare. "Cerberus is panting around Omega and making a lot of people nervous. Those crazy ass humans are fucking with business, Kasumi. It doesn't matter if they aren't here for the hallex dealers or the red sand, or the slave bracket, or the illegal mods or weapons – they are treading _my_ territory, fucking with _my_ businesses, and my hands are tied because if I decide to assault Cerberus, on my territory or not, Cerberus will attack back. And they'll do it by making Omega a place that can't be trusted for business." She turned her head away.

When Aria offered up nothing else, Kasumi fidgeted slightly and decided to prod the conversation. "So…um…my predicament?"

"Your predicament is this: if anyone comes to me asking for you, I will tell them where you are and when you were here. If they don't, then I'm not volunteering the information." She looked back, "That is what your past dealings will get with me. If I find out you've short changed me in this and that data isn't what you said it is, then you had better pray Cerberus is the only one looking for you." She nodded once at Kasumi, "If it is, then you had better hide it with your life. Cerberus doesn't need any more teeth than it has."

Kasumi wasn't sure whether she felt relieved or deflated. On one hand, she's been hoping for more help from Aria given all the business she'd sent her way, on the other hand, she knew that making Omega a target would normally warrant a one way ticket to hell so she got off lightly.

Kasumi stood before turning to bow with her hands in front of her pelvis. "Thank you, Aria-sama."

"And Kasumi. You're on your own for this. You could, of course, chance it with the Shadow Broker but you'd likely have to part with some of whatever you found. And it wouldn't bode well for your continued existence if I find out that that's what you decided to do." Aria flapped her wrist at her. "Now get lost."

Kasumi exited Afterlife and cloaked herself. It went better and worse than she thought it would.

* * *

The scope that focused in smoothly at the back of the hooded woman's head watched her brief trek outside of Afterlife, but immediately zoomed out when her cloaking device activated after only two yards of active movement outside the club.

The green finger that had hovered over the trigger was removed slowly. The sniper leaned away from the scope and watched the crowd thoughtfully.


	2. The assassin

update! A couple of the first chapters aren't going to have Thane and Kasumi interacting directly because of the obvious situation, but it will start featuring them in the same chapter. These first two are mostly to set up a base and let everyone know a bit about where they stand. Enjoy!

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Kasumi Goto's dossier was…impressive.

Not really – the information was limited and spotty.

She was young, and her reputation lent her to being the best thief (for those who even knew she existed) so it was understandable that the dossier remained mostly blank. Some of the information in the packet Thane had received had been rumors, speculation, theories or the occasional slip from one of her old contacts before things had gone sour in Caza's deal.

Thane thumbed over the omnitool, pulling up a particular heist involving an artifact of the Enkindlers. He frowned slightly – it had been a treasure amongst the hanar and they'd bemoaned its loss from their private archives.

It had only been a small carving of pale stone, smooth in design with spiraling curves that represented a planet overshadowing another. Both of the miniature planets had been hollow and were bisected by small seams. One planet had held gold dust, the other old sand.

Goto, from the heist's explanation, likely had a hand in it though where the artifact went to was unknown. Trails that Goto led often went cold unusually fast.

It was a reasonable assumption that she had one of her people sell it for her and she collected the price later. A middle man for payment transactions who would get a slice of the profits but would only ever see one of her contacts.

No one had seen her whole face, ever. The most anyone had seen was the bottom half of her face with her signature purple lip stripe on her lip and a dot of it above her chin. She was careful and sly, always watching where she stepped and even when she didn't leave any footprints behind, she left false ones behind.

She was good at what she did. Thane had heard of her before Caza had hired him. She'd made a lot of enemies. There were a lot of things missing in the galaxy, and a lot of people who wanted them back.

Kasumi Goto was not particularly wicked, but as it was explained to him, she held the cure for many diseases with her, and instead of Caza's comfortable offer, had taken the data and was looking for the highest bidder.

This did not necessarily mean of course that Caza was a good man, but he'd made significant donations to the hanar regarding drell genetic adaptation and loaned his own scientists to the cause. Caza was no saint, but Goto was mercenary in her dealings. She'd broken her own contract and instead of helping people benefit from it, was looking to sell it elsewhere.

Not the worst sort Thane had witnessed, but it was a regrettable decision on her part.

After all, Caza had sent _him_ to recover her.

Thane crossed the room of his hotel room with a few strides and the small terminal he'd used earlier to access Kasumi's dossier and possible whereabouts was still lit up with her enigmatic half-face.

If he didn't know better, he'd swear she was smirking at him.

Her personality quirks were supplied by reports from Citadel Spectre Jondum Bau – a salarian who had spent quite some time chasing her. His descriptions were not meant to be flattering or insulting, but the reports that Caza had somehow managed to get his hands on lit her up in respect.

In her previous heists, she'd managed to avoid killing anyone – the guards were often done it with a concussive round or pressure points, nerve or sleeping gas was used and the occasional tranquilizer round in a Carnifex had been noted. She always delivered the goods, when someone sought her out for it, but mostly she stole whatever she wanted and allowed an invisible broker to set the price.

She was not as wicked as they came, but Thane's job description was clear – she'd stolen an antidote for a lot of things for the human race for profit.

Thane dropped his jacket in a careful sweep over the back of a chair before sinking down with a datapad. He clasped his hands together in front of his mouth, staring at the terminal. Eidetic memory assured that he would know the thief as soon as he caught her – he'd only had the barest glimpse of her outside of Afterlife before she cloaked herself. That act alone stated more about her than her dossier.

Afterlife posed as some kind of asylum. However, Aria T'Loak ruled there and her seat of power wasn't won by charity. Thane wondered how permanent a place it was for Ms. Goto.

Aside from that, given Bau's estimation and overall respect of Ms. Goto's intelligence as well as her supposed paranoia Omega seemed a common place for a criminal on the run to disappear to. It didn't match up, and Thane was nothing if not thorough.

Peeling back layers as well as contacting an information broker had given him some insight. Ms. Goto did business with Aria, helping her smuggle weapons to planets or even the occasional red sand drop to places outside of Ilium. But Ms. Goto didn't do it for charity, she got credits, she received new channels of contacts through Aria's personal clients, she had access to transportation under the radar. It was an even business exchange, so it begged the idea that Ms. Goto wasn't just here to plead her case to Aria.

Perhaps she was here because she'd already arranged a getaway, or this was an elaborate trap for him. He didn't doubt that Ms. Goto already knew he was on her trail, but he couldn't guess if she knew how close he was. Kasumi's own apartment was not down in the slums, at least, and no one had heard of a hooded woman living near them.

It could be that Omega was on lockdown at Aria's orders, should she have given them, which would mean crossing all of Omega. Or it could be that Ms. Goto was simply very adept at covering her tracks. Neither one would make this a simple task.

But – where would she hide on Omega if Aria was not protecting her? Surely she wouldn't _stay_. She wouldn't linger on Omega long, even if she was hiding here for now.

But Ms. Goto worked outside the normal parameters of other thieves and seemed to be motivated by something other than the simplicity of money.

Thane sighed, feeling it rumble in his chest and leaned back. He'd been hired to hunt thieves before, and oftentimes they were worse than any other criminal. Due to their nature, they stuck to shadows as much as any assassin (and more than most of those that wore brightly colored armor with a shotgun strapped cockily to their backs), they always had escape routes preplanned and good thieves always had numerous safety nets. They rarely ever engaged in close combat though, and Thane was a professional at it.

If he caught Ms. Goto it would either be at the end of his sniper scope (but based on his first sighting of her tonight, it would be unlikely) or she would feel death as a physical force.

He stood and rolled his shoulders slowly. He didn't sleep as much as he possibly should; Kepral's made sleeping for too long uncomfortable so he turned to books, jobs, meditation or mild exercises. Tonight, it was Ms. Goto and whatever information he could have gathered from the information broker as well as Caza's personal stock.

Grabbing a cup of cold tea (hot drinks were a rare luxury since he'd been diagnosed) and resting his lips against the rim of it, Thane slowly rolled the information of the woman in his head.

She would have been a spectacular spy, even an assassin had she chosen another path. Spies were paid better, but always faced the possibility of being killed and no one knowing or receiving a notice to the end of their career from their superiors in a bloody, abrupt way. He couldn't blame her for not wanting to be an assassin – Ms. Goto's psych evaluation (hastily drawn up by Bau and a Citadel Security officer who'd had the fortune of nearly capturing her in her earlier days) also provided by Caza suggested she would not take to it as well as he had.

Of course, she may have even made a good officer, even a Spectre. She was used to gathering data, casing places she was going to rob, stretching out the right feelers. She would have been formidable on the other side of the law.

It said more about her character than the proposed evaluations others drew up about her – she wasn't simply in the business of thievery because it was easy money, it was excitement and challenge. This wasn't someone who stole money or identities or credit chits to pay for life's luxuries. This was done out of love.

Thane wasn't entirely sure if he found it deplorable or admirable that she loved her work so dearly.

He took another long swallow of his tea before peering over his shoulder where Ms. Goto's orange illuminated picture was still smirking at him from beneath her hood, her eyes two small pinpoints of light.

Thane recovered his jacket and pulled it around him with intent to walk out the door and start looking for any clues as to where she went. He certainly wasn't going to find Ms. Goto hiding in his cabinets, and Omega wasn't a place known to sleep.

The cloaking device Ms. Goto employed wasn't going to make this easy, and caution warranted in the situation. With that in mind, he stepped out of the threshold of the motel room and into the street.

What thoughts of Omega brought to mind were what Omega's streets smelled of – the greasy scent of old food, the sweet spice of red sand, the heat of club lights, the acrid burn of overused thermal clips, and cheap perfume. It was a place of thoughtless actions, careless individuals and a sinkhole for the unwary.

Temperature wasn't regulated on Omega like on the Citadel. The air here was slightly drier, but hotter and clouded with smoke. It was difficult not to wade through the crowds without being attacked by some kind of smell that just wrapped itself around you and clung for days. Omega was not Thane's place of choice to travel to.

He wondered if this would be Kasumi's choice as he wound through the crowds. Did she enjoy the nightlife? If she did, which club would she choose? He doubted she would be in the middle of a dance floor with her ensemble. She'd maybe choose a small corner that faced the entrance to drink and smile from the shadows.

Or perhaps she was seeking out refuge, hiding in an abandoned flat or waiting for her off world transport. A dingy little apartment without windows that she'd fashioned to have some clever and easily overlooked escape. Maybe it would be a flat surrounded by Blue Suns just for the irony, what little of her person he knew of seemed to find humor in odd places.

She wouldn't wait long to leave Omega because her kind always had a knowledge they were being hunted.

Briefly, he felt an asari brush against his side purposely and though one hand tracked its way to his sidearm, he turned to her. She smiled, "You look a little lonely. Care to change that?" purple strips flared out at her cheeks and exaggerated her smile.

Thane's hand remained near his pistol but out of her sight and a thought occurred to him.

Perhaps he was going about this wrong. Given Kasumi's previous history she'd never accepted a job and not gone through with it. Was she driven not by greed, but instead fear? Fear of him? Fear of Caza? Would it change anything? He wasn't sure, but at this point, he couldn't very well go hunting at every apartment door, hotel or sleazy bar for her. The wrong move and she'd vanish.

_- the black hood is in his scope, and her face turns slightly, he can see the curve of her bottom lip only partially painted, can see her take a small breath and his fingers rests comfortably on the trigger, readying to squeeze before the air shimmers, sunlight on water and she's gone like an illusion in the desert_ -

If he was a woman on the run, where would he go?

"No thank you, but excuse me please," Thane excused himself from the asari who just wandered over to the drunken turian behind him.

Where do women go when they're afraid of men and their consequences?

His immediate thought was –

_"Your parents?" he rasps, her hand, small against his clutches him and he watches her smirk. _

_"They're not that frightening, and they want to meet the one who loved my sunset-colored eyes first." Her smile is close lipped, large black eyes watching him. Gold scales catch the light and hold it_ –

He blinked and came back to himself within the crowd. Did Ms. Goto have parents? Would she go to them? Perhaps a friend instead? A lover?

He allowed a moment of discontent come over him. He did not enjoy the hunting of a person as he found it indelicate and harsh. The hunting down of a person as if they were little more than game had never appealed to him and Ms. Goto's careful steps around anonymity had only ensured that this would indeed be a hunt.

He cast a look at Afterlife. He disliked needing to search for information himself, preferring to use _drala'fa_ when available but Omega was a dangerous place for it. Not to mention the nonexistent chance that Ms. Goto would leave herself so open as to let amateurs spot her at such a critical moment.

It was the thought that stayed with him even after he'd entered Afterlife and allowed a guard to scan him.

Aria T'Loak eyed him before she jerked her head to the side and he sat adjacent to her.

"Krios," she said. Thane inclined his head and she swept her eyes up his length clinically. He was entirely unsurprised she knew who he was simply on sight. "What do you need?"

Thane spread his hands against his knees, "I won't bore you with details. I'm looking for a thief you've done business with before."

Aria sneered slightly, "Checking on my transactions." It wasn't phrased as a question and was somewhat more related to an accusation.

"Not yours," the drell murmured. He blinked at her, keeping his palms spread wide, fingers parted. "I know she came here recently. I only need to know if you'd have any information regarding her whereabouts."

Aria's tongue traced her teeth in her mouth and she looked straight ahead. "She came in, probably to ask for sanctuary. I told her Omega doesn't have that, even for her. Especially since she became a hot-zone all on her own. Pain in my ass." The sentiment, whether Aria caught it or not, whether she meant it or not, held a drop of affection. Thane blinked and filed it away for later dissection.

The assassin's body language never changed, although his focus bled into something nearing intense. "Would you have a guess as to where she would go?"

The asari's head rolled back to him. "Nope, girl lost a lot of contacts since she pissed off Caza and every mercenary in the system. And you." Her voice lowered as she continued, "She doesn't have many friends left so I'd wager finding her will be easier."

She looked away from him and the drell knew he'd been dismissed. It was never an easy thing, for an assassin to search for information so obviously and it was harder getting people who would know things of import to allow him close enough to get it. Assassins were mistrusted in the world of kings.

Thane stood and bowed, "She will still be difficult to track, but thank you for your time."

Aria laughed and her head tipped back. "I said easier, Krios, not simple."

Thane turned to leave and still heard Aria chuckling as he took his leave. The smell of alcohol and sweat stung his nose. As he left, his memory recalled a half face hidden by a hood, eyes like far off city lights and small knowing smirk. "No, not simple," he breathed to himself and he vanished in Omega's crowds.


End file.
